California Doctors to Get Wired in State's Largest e-Prescribing ...( CalPERS Anthem Blue Cross Medco Healt...),Health

CalPERS, Anthem Blue Cross, Medco Health Solutions, and Blue Shield of California Look to Promote Adoption Among Physicians

SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The State of California's efforts to move into the age of wired health care received a shot in the arm today as The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) joined with Anthem Blue Cross, Medco Health Solutions, Inc., and Blue Shield of California to launch the state's largest electronic prescribing (e-Prescribing) initiative to date. Medco Health Solutions is providing project management resources for the pilot program.

The pilot program, the latest large-scale initiative in the United States, will use input from participating physicians to determine the best ways to employ e-Prescribing technology in their practices and facilitate use by all prescribers. Program organizers will track results such as the number of identified preventable adverse drug events, use of e-Prescribing, and generic drug and formulary prescribing rates. A report to be released at the end of the study will showcase results of the pilot program.

The scope of the project includes working with several physician groups that serve CalPERS members in addition to other patients in the community. The health plan Anthem Blue Cross and the health plan Blue Shield of California will each work with the pilot medical groups and their chosen e-Prescribing vendors to address barriers to e-Prescribing.

"The evidence supports the thesis that e-Prescribing improves patient safety, enhances the quality of patient care, and reduces cost to the physician, the health plan and the patient," said Priya Mathur, Chair of the CalPERS Health Benefits Committee. "Our goal with this pilot project is to protect our members' safety, while accelerating the acceptance and adoption of e-Prescribing by the physicians who serve them."

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